The Cores
by wordlytreasure
Summary: Just a collection of drabbles on how I believe the personality cores came to be.   :EDIT:   Chapter Six: The Anger Core
1. Chapter 1

Curiosity

"Where are we going, daddy?"

Matthew Sanders looked straight ahead, a strong grip on his daughter as they made their way past various labs and whirring machines. He couldn't look at her, it would ruin everything.

"Ooh, what's that?" Dianah turned her head to stare at an assembly line, her large green eyes wide with excitement. "What are those? What do they do? Hey daddy, are you listening?"

A single tear escaped his eye. "Yes, Dianah. I'm listening."

They were getting close. Some of his colleagues looked at him with sympathetic looks, and he hated them even more. They didn't know. They couldn't understand.

Dianah tugged on his coat sleeve. "Daddy, look! Look at the big robot! What is it?" He felt her bounce with excitement as they neared the prone figure of GLaDOS. They'd just barely turned her off in time to stop anyone else from dying. This was a desperate measure, one their dying boss had ordered to happen in the event SHE tried to murder them.

Tom, his superior, patted him on the shoulder. "You're doing the right thing, Matt."

He pulled away sharply, letting go of his daughter's hand. "Don't touch me. "

Tom shook his head, turning his attention to Dianah, who was still staring at GLaDOS. "Dianah?" She turned to him, smiling that big smile she always had. "Do you want to see how it works?"

An excited squeal erupted from the little girl, and she ran and took Tom's hand. "Can I daddy? Can I?" Matthew turned away, tears no longer able to be held back. Dianah didn't notice, already walking off towards the room marked "Control Lab".

* * *

><p>"I find myself with an increased sense of curiosity for science and testing," the mechanized voice said, echoing off the walls of the chamber. "And the effects of said tests on human subjects. I would request that we increase the level of difficulty, in order to push the limits of human endurance. I am quite curious to see the results."<p>

It was a complete success. The scientists high fived each other and broke out a bottle of champagne.

Later that night, Matthew Sanders hung himself from the rafters of his attic.


	2. Chapter 2

Adventure

Cave Johnson looked over the resume again, brow furrowed, before looking over at Caroline and nodding. "Fifteen years service in the army, with a good bulk of it in Vietnam. Excellent health, a thirst for danger, and an obsessive love of his country. He'd be perfect for a test subject."

Caroline nodded in response, buzzing the door open. "Mr. Pierce? Mr. Johnson will see you now."

He was tall, tan, and in his early forties, and walked with a smooth, confident air about him. Cave had been impressed before. Now he was blown away. The man held out a well worn hand and shook his firmly, grinning. "Name's Rick Pierce, Mr. Johnson. Pleasure to meet you. I'm told you've been working on top secret equipment for the military you want me to try out?"

Cave nodded. He liked him more and more every second. "Take a seat, Rick. Can I call you Rick?" Rick nodded, stealing a glance at Caroline and winking at her. She blushed furiously and excused herself. Cave laughed heartily. "They warned me that you were a lady killer."

Rick shrugged, grinning. "What can I say? Pretty ladies are my specialty."

"Indeed." He leaned forward. "Now if we could get down to business, I have a proposal that I think you'll enjoy." Pulling out a large stack of blueprints, Cave handed them over. Rick's eyes lit up slightly, running a finger over the "TOP SECRET" label, before diving in.

After a minute of silence, he looked up, slightly confused. "I'm afraid I don't understand sir. What is all this?" He flipped through a few more designs, pausing on one marked "Aperture Science Sentry Turret". "This looks like a robotic grasshopper or something. How could any of this benefit the military?"

Cave's smiled widened, a crazy gleam in his eyes. "Would you like to see for yourself?" 

* * *

><p>"Hello? Would you come over here?"<p>

RATATATATATATATATA!

The unlucky test subject hit the ground with a sickening THUD, blood oozing from pretty much everywhere there was to ooze.

"Are you still there? Sleep mode activated."

The turret closed down, its optic dimming to black.

Rick had watched the whole spectacle with his jaw scraping the floor. Yes, it wasn't a real person, just a robot made to move and bleed like one, but the life-like nature of it just made it that much more terrifying.

"Well I'll be damned…" He leaned forward, watching the automated chamber cleaners drag the robot out and cleaning the blood away. "That might be the scariest damn thing I've ever seen. You are a madman."

Cave Johnson ignored him. "Now the military is interested in buying several thousand of these units, but I seriously doubt your unit will need more than 300. They're five times deadlier than a Gatling gun, and shoot without prejudice." He turned to the soldier. "What do you think? Impressive, huh?"

He kept staring at the little turret, now powered down and "sleeping". It looked almost cute when it was off, and even when it spoke it had a little childlike voice. "If I can be frank, Mr. Johnson…." The turret sprang to life and shot at one of the janitors, who just narrowly escaped intact. "I really don't think the world's ready for killer deathbots." Rick scowled at the dumbstruck CEO. "I've seen combat, Mr. Johnson. You ever stared into the eyes of a man you killed? I didn't think so. If you had, you'd be inventing machines to help humanity, not wipe us all out." Shoving past him, Rick headed for the door. "Good day."

* * *

><p>"I'm sorry the military deal didn't work out, Mr. Johnson." Caroline set a fresh mug of coffee down on his desk, smiling apologetically. "If it makes you feel any better, Mr. Pierce was sworn to secrecy before he left, so there's no chance of an investigation or a lawsuit."<p>

Cave rolled his eyes, patting his secretary on the shoulder. "Always the optimist, eh Caroline?" He took a sip. "Woman, you make the best coffee ever. I should give you a raise." She blushed prettily and sat at her desk. He grinned to himself, picking up a stack of paperwork and looking them over. "As it turns out, Mr. Pierce changed his tune shortly after he left."

Caroline jerked her head up in surprise. "Really?"

"Oh, yes. You'd be surprised how much he's supporting us now."

* * *

><p>TWENTY YEARS LATER…<p>

"Are you still there?"

He was tired.

Too tired, and too damn old to be running tests anymore, but that terrible machine refused to let him leave.

Pulling himself behind one of the broken wall panels of the chamber, a now worn out and thin Rick Pierce threw himself against the cold concrete and closed his eyes. These "rat dens", as he called them, were some of the only blind spots in the entire facility, and were the only chances he had to sleep. A sixty four year old man shouldn't have to do this, he thought groggily. He shouldn't have to do this in the first place. Picking up a piece of charcoal, Rick added his own message: "Cave Johnson is a murderer".

Then sleep found him.

* * *

><p>The thing about Aperture Science is, eventually you can't hide anymore.<p>

The scientists shakily emerged from their hiding spots, breathing a sigh of relief as GLaDOS powered down. Luckily, she only had time to turn the neurotoxin on long enough to be at half power, so it hadn't been completely lethal. Most of them survived this time.

One of them grumbled angrily, yanking the newest core off her mainframe and tossing it to the ground. "One, who's idea was it to NOT wipe his memories beforehand? And two, why did we think it'd be a good idea to put something like that on her?"

The other scientists shook their heads, giving a fearful look to the corrupted core, writhing on the ground and screaming in anger. "CAVE JOHNSON IS A MURDERER. YOU'RE ALL MURDERERS."

"Throw it on the pile with the other failed cores. We just have to try again."


	3. Chapter 3

Morality

Amanda Donahue had gotten into the Aperture Science internship program immediately following her college graduation, and as a chemistry major, this had been a dream come true. Aperture had been on top of the world in 1968, aiding NASA with technology centuries ahead of its time. Only Black Mesa had been as advanced in their field. And to think, it had started off as a shower curtain factory!

She had quickly risen to Head of Gel Testing, and through her dedication and steadfast nature, had innovated and perfected nearly every gel to come out of there. Her colleagues, all male, had been jealous at first, but soon came to respect her, if not tease her over her ethical nature. Amanda had just shrugged it off, laughing along with them.

It didn't take long before things began to fall apart.

After the disastrous result of the missing astronauts case, Amanda began to seriously wonder what was going on in other parts of the facility. "Why," she would often ask to no one in particular, "would we be involved in a missing persons case if we weren't the cause somehow?" The others told her that she was being paranoid, and to just ignore everything that wasn't gel testing.

But as the years wore on, and the test subjects became less important people and more hobos off the street, Amanda had marched straight up to Cave Johnson, pushing his whimpering little lap dog Caroline out of the way, and slammed her fist on his desk. "Would you like to explain to me why we're testing potentially life threatening material on homeless people?"

Such a move would probably get anyone else fired. But it was no secret that Cave was a sucker for lady scientists. He just regarded her with an amused smile. "Temper temper, Miss Donahue." He leaned forward. "We're just giving jobs to the homeless. Isn't that admirable?"

Amanda just glared. "I'm not stupid, Mr. Johnson. I can hear your little messages just as well as anyone else. SOMETHING is happening here, and I want answers."

* * *

><p>Years wore on, and Amanda found more and more that she was disgusted by what she did.<p>

She knew the reason they made testing mandatory for all employees: Aperture couldn't even get homeless people to test for them anymore. People were starting to talk and wonder what happened to all the city's homeless, and family members had gotten involved. Amanda had tried to quit several times, and each time, the increasingly sick Cave Johnson would throw more money at her.

Finally, after Cave died and Caroline disappeared, she decided enough was enough.

"They'll kill you, Amanda…." Doug Rattman, a young scientist with a bright mind, had come to Aperture for the same reasons she had all those years ago. Luckily, Doug was smarter than her colleagues, or at least, CARED that what they were doing was wrong. Yes, he was sort of paranoid and jumpy, but it was so nice to be believed for once.

"I don't care, Doug. I can't stay here any longer." Holding aloft a small manila envelope, she smiled. "I have enough evidence here to get Aperture shut down for good. I've sat around and done nothing for far, FAR too long."

Her friend gulped slightly, rubbing the back of his neck. "Just be careful ok? I swear, sometimes I think the walls have ears."

Amanda touched Doug's shoulder reassuringly. "Don't worry. Everything will be fine."

* * *

><p>Amanda never came back.<p>

Doug waited two days, three days, a week, then a week and a half before he allowed himself to fully panic. They had got her. He was sure of it.

The behemoth of metal and wires hung limply from the ceiling. Hard to believe it could ever look peaceful, especially since it had tried to kill them.

Tom, the head of A.I. studies, walked in and clapped him on the back. "Alright Rattman, I think THIS core should do it." He turned his head, expecting to see a smooth sphere rambling on and on about whatever it was programmed to do.

Instead, the dark purple optic stared straight ahead.

Not blinking.

Not speaking.

Doug felt his chest tighten. Something about this core….. The other scientists attached it to GLaDOS, standing back in fear as they powered her up. Slowly, her optic opened.

"Good evening gentlemen. I know we had some disagreements in the past, but I think we can put our differences aside and continue testing."

Tom stepped forward, anxious. "What about killing us? "

The machine laughed a little. "I find myself with a moral code that would prevent me from just killing you. It wouldn't benefit science."

The scientists breathed a sigh of relief. For the first time ever, GLaDOS was allowed to stay on.

Doug Rattman doubled his prescription.


	4. Chapter 4

Space

Cave Johnson was running out of options, along with everything else.

First, he'd had to stop using astronauts and war time heroes because, well quite frankly, people really got suspicious when they went missing. They had switched to bribing the homeless, but as it turns out, people got their panties in a twist about THEM too. So what was the head of Aperture Science to do?

Turn to the funny farm, of course!

He walked down the sterile white halls, gazing at all the inmates like he was shopping. Some were altogether too sane, others were barking like dogs, too crazy to know which way was up. He sighed irritably. "Don't you have someone who's only sort of crazy?", he said, turning to the nurse showing him around.

She glared at him and crossed her arms. "I cannot believe we're allowing you to do this. You're an absolute monster."

"Just answer the question, sweet cheeks."

Rolling her eyes, she unlocked one of the solitary confinement rooms. "Arthur Baskin. Age: 32. He's confined from everyone else because he flies into a panic very easily, and has been known to injure himself." The nurse walked in, smiling gently. "Hello Arthur. How are you feeling today?"

Cave felt his breath catch in his throat at the sight of him.

He was tall, thin as a rail, with ratty orange hair flying every which way. Hunched over a stack of paper and scribbling furiously, he barely seemed to notice they were there until the nurse touched his shoulder. Arthur jerked his head up, eyes wild and uncomprehending, before smiling lopsidedly at them. "H-Hello. Do you want to go to space?"

The nurse laughed a little, shaking her head. "No dear. No one's going to space." Turning to Cave, she sighed. "He used to be a medical student, and a gifted artist. Very sensitive, from what we've heard."

"How'd he end up here?" Cave was watching, fascinated, as Arthur turned back to his drawings and mumbled nonsense to himself.

"Space….I gotta—gotta get to….t-to space…."

"It's tragic, actually." Her face fell. "His fiancé had an accident while they were vacationing, and she was in a vegetative state for a year before they decided to pull the plug. It really, REALLY messed him up."

Arthur's pen lines became more erratic as they talked, branching out into strange shapes and alien worlds. "Gotta go, gotta get there, sh-she'll be there….and we can go to Mars together…."

Cave clapped his hands in triumph. Oh, it was almost too easy. "Arthur m'boy…" he put a hand on the crazy man's shoulders, making him jump. "What if I told you I could offer you a chance to go to space?"

His eyes widened. "Space? R-really? I could go…you could take me?"

"Absolutely." He turned the charm up, lying through his teeth. Cave should've probably felt guilty for this, but at this point, he couldn't afford to. "All you'd have to do is come train with us for a year or so, then it's off to the stars! What do ya say?"

Arthur nodded enthusiastically. "Yes! Yes, of—of course!" He laughed, jumping up and hugging him. "Thank you!"

* * *

><p>10 years later…<p>

Space.

They lied about space.

They lied they lied they lied they lied they lied they lied THEY LIED.

All he'd ever wanted was to go to space. Mel would be there waiting for him, and she'd smile and kiss him and be alive again and everything would be as it was before…before…

Arthur shrieked in pain as another blast of electricity shot through his skull, tears streaming down his face. "NO! STOP!" He could barely think, much less beg the faceless scientists to turn the machine off and just let him GO. "P-Please don't do this, I—I gotta-" He choked on a sob, struggling against the restraints with what was left of his strength.

Why were they doing this? What had he done?

He was so tired now. Somewhere, far away, Mel's voice called out to him and he closed his eyes. At the same time, the strange ball in front of him opened its optic and shone an orange light.

Spaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaace.

* * *

><p>"Well, damn."<p>

The scientists gathered around the core, who was babbling on and on and ON about space cops. They shook their heads. Tom, the head scientist, grabbed it by the handles and handed it off to his assistant. "Toss it in the pile with the rest of the defective cores. I mean really, now. This had bad idea written all over it."

The assistant made the long trip from GLaDOS's chamber to the Defective cores unit, a deep, painful guilt stabbing at his heart. He rather liked the little sphere, and it seemed like such a pity to just throw it away. It turned to look at him, and almost seemed to smile. "What's your favorite thing about space? Mine is Space. Space space space spuh puh puh SPACE!" It giggled to itself.

He laughed with it. "At least you won't lose your sunny attitude. You've got that going for you, I suppose."

Gently, he put the core in the cage and locked the door. It didn't seem to notice too much, but as he turned to leave, it cried out to him. "What's your name? Your space name?"

The assistant turned and smiled. "Gregory Wheatley."

The core nodded. "I like you, Gregory. We should go to space together."


	5. Chapter 5

Fact

To put it nicely, Craig Haines was antisocial.

Haughty, stuck up, and pretentious, he was not very well liked among his colleagues at Aperture, and that was exactly how he liked it. The more they left him alone, the better. It allowed him to do what he loved: develop Aperture's artificial intelligence.

He was only 23 when he helped create the turrets, and his invention of the "empathy dampener" proved vital when they found that emotional turrets were reluctant to fire on subjects. From there, he was handpicked by Cave Johnson himself, on his deathbed, to develop GLaDOS, the most advanced and sophisticated A.I in the world. Craig had retreated to the solitude of his office, working night and day on brain mapping, successfully transferring the consciousness of a rat into a crude device. Out of all his colleagues, he had been the most successful.

But they were all too late.

Cave Johnson had died just as the breakthrough happened, lunar poisoning finally taking its toll. As per his request, there had been no real funeral, just a simple gathering of those he was closest to (which basically boiled down to about three relatives, Caroline Turner, and that odd quiet daughter of hers). The rest of the scientists kept working, the new goal being to put Caroline into GLaDOS.

Some of them questioned the morality of it. Craig wasn't one of those people. Frankly, he didn't really care. He didn't hate his fellow man, he just found more joy in logical thinking and science, and if someone had to die for science to proceed, so be it.

Four cores were made at first. The first, Curiosity, had been a success. The next two had been complete failures, corrupted from the moment of activation. It had proved very stressful, and Craig had gotten little sleep. After all, when you're counted on by everyone in the company, you can't afford sleep. Morality had worked. It allowed them to leave GLaDOS on and observe her behavior, and for a good month, the facility ran smoothly.

"Isn't it beautiful, Craig?" Tom, the head scientist, was probably the person Craig liked the most. He clapped a hand on his shoulder. "Most of this is thanks to you and that big brain of yours. We owe you one."

Craig shrugged slightly, staring at it. "I guess. It still shows some aggression, more cores may be needed."

Tom sighed. "But who else could we find to fill one up?"

He just shrugged.

* * *

><p>Truth was, she WAS beautiful.<p>

Aperture never really shut down at night. Though most of the scientists went home around 9 pm, machinery continued their duties all through the night, with a few people to oversee them. It wasn't unusual for Craig to be working at this time.

But it was unusual for him to NOT be.

Slipping silently past the security cameras, Craig made his way determinedly towards GLaDOS's chamber, his heart beating fast. She had been turned off for the night, mostly to conserve energy, and her prone figure hung limp from the ceiling. Craig's smile widened. "Hello there…" He ran a hand over her core processor, mesmerized. "You'd probably kill me if you were awake right now." The thought just excited him more. This being, this entity, was powerful enough to kill whoever she wanted, and he had created her.

It became a ritual, so much so that Craig stopped working during the day altogether. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he wondered if maybe he had finally lost his mind, preferring her company over flesh and blood humans, but he didn't care. Sitting on the floor of her chamber, Craig would work tirelessly, creating more and more cores, and talking to her about how wonderful and calculatingly brilliant she was. Craig knew that at least part of her heard him; After all, even when shut down, GLaDOS had security cameras installed for her safety. It was only a matter of time before someone, anyone, would discover him.

* * *

><p>"She's asking for neurotoxin."<p>

Tom and the other scientists had called a mandatory meeting for everyone at Aperture, and despite his protests, Craig found himself surrounded by stupid fleshy humans. He was tired and irritable, barely paying attention until her name came up.

Tom was smiling nervously, crumpling the sides of the papers in his hand. "GLaDOS wants to try the Schrödinger's Cat experiment with it. Now, I know we've had problems with her in the past, but I don't see what harm it could do to let her. Ideas?"

Doug Rattmann raised his hand, nervously shaking. "I c-can't believe you're even considering this. She wants to kill us!" Craig sneered slightly. Doug was a whimpering pathetic excuse for a scientist.

"I, well, I have to agree", Gregory Wheatley chimed in, also looking anxious and scared. Pathetic fools, the pair of them. "Even with her as calm as she is now, what's to stop her from using the neurotoxin against us?"

The other scientist murmured their agreements, and Craig sighed loudly and stood up. "Listen you poor excuses for men of science, the neurotoxin NEEDS to be tested and improved. If you're so worried about her behavior, I'll make another core to keep her on the right track."

Tom shook his head. "Are you sure it'll work?"

"Trust me."

* * *

><p><em>Dear esteemed colleagues,<em>

_Since none of you have the intelligence or courage to do this yourselves, I had no choice but to put myself in the core. I'm disappointed in you._

_Craig T. Haines_

He left the note by the core. By the next morning, GLaDOS would killed 64% of the scientists with the neurotoxin that Craig connected for her. They would find him, lying on the floor of her chamber, while the core did nothing but state absurd facts.

Fact: The fact sphere is the most intelligent sphere.


	6. Chapter 6

ANGER

"Hello, and thank you once again for participating in this Aperture Science enrichment course."

Richard groaned loudly, rubbing his eyes and staggering to his feet from the sleeping capsule. Another day, another test. Same thing, over and over again, for almost an entire year.

Sixty seconds till the portal opened. Just long enough to take care of toiletries, splash some water on his face, and try to stretch. They still hadn't provided him with a razor, like he had requested, and the month old beard was starting to really bother him. Oh well, he thought tiredly, at least it was almost over, right?

45 seconds. He looked up at the observation deck, hoping to actually see someone this time. Once again, no dice. Richard frowned a little. It had been entirely too long since he'd actually seen another human being up there. They had announced switching over to a mostly automated system about two weeks ago, but he wasn't a fan of the cold, robotic voice that was droning on and on about safety protocol at the moment. Too sterile. He'd kill to hear a real lady.

10 seconds now, and he'd begin. It was a different test every time, for which Richard was very grateful. Really, he didn't mind being a test subject. It wasn't too hard to stay alive, and the pay was good. Besides, it was almost over. That promise of freedom always tasted sweetest at the end of a long day dodging turrets and leaping over pits of killer sludge. One more day….one more day…

WHOOSH. The portal opened up in front of him, and with a grin, Richard bolted out towards the first test.

* * *

><p>Was it his imagination, or were the tests getting more difficult?<p>

Oh sure, Richard had survived the turret onslaught like he usually did, but it was starting to become just the slightest bit ridiculous.

Panting heavily, he heaved his body against the wall, holding the weighted cube in front of him like a shield. The barrage of bullets made sickening ripping noises as they bounced and penetrated the block and everything around him, but he couldn't think about that. Not even as he cried out in pain as a stray bullet pierced his leg.

CLANG! "Whyyyyyyy… I don't hate you." The turret powered down as it hit the ground, eye turning black and shutting off. Richard coughed slightly, grinning. "HA!" He gave a cocky grin to the ever watchful security cameras, celebrating a little. He placed the block on the waiting button, expecting the exit to be behind the d—

"I see you!" RATATATATATATATA.

Barely having enough time to leap out of the way, Richard somersaulted into the wall with a thud. What the… That had been a trap! A deliberate trap! He turned back to the camera, grin gone. "What is your PROBLEM?" His voice was raspy, and out of breath. "What are you trying to do, kill me?"

The camera turned to him as it always did, focusing on his ragged form. "Is there a complaint, [SUBJECT NAME HERE]?"

He really hated this robotic lady. "Yes there's a problem! I almost died in your little test!"

"We would like to apologize for your discomfort." A hint of amusement crept into her voice. "At the end of today's testing, you will be able to file a formal complaint. Please bear with us."

For the first time, Richard's blood ran cold. He wasn't sure, but something about all this made him uneasy.

* * *

><p>"Psst. Hey."<p>

Richard must've been going crazy. The cube was actually talking to him.

The whisper got more insistent. "Please, listen to me. Come over here."

Whirling around, he caught a glimpse of someone's forearm before it disappeared behind a strangely out of place panel. Prying it open, Richard gasped in shock. There sat a disheveled, mumbling mess of a man, scribbling furiously on the wall, looking over his shoulder every few minutes or so. "Woah, where did you come from?"

The man looked up and shushed him. "She'll hear you. Have a seat." He craned his neck to get a better view at the man's drawings. All of them filled him with a sense of dread: she's watching you, beware the green gas, there is no escape. How long had he been here? The man coughed slightly. "Richard, right?" He nodded. "I'm glad I got you when I did. I've been trying all week to save test subjects, and…" The man trailed off, sighing. "I just haven't been fast enough."

Richard backed away slightly. "You mean…they're dead?" The man nodded. "Oh my lord…she IS trying to kill me…" he fell against the wall, sinking down and holding his knees to his chest. "WHY? Why would they make tests that intentionally kill people? What are the scientists THINKING?"

"Rattmann." The man extended his worn and slightly scarred hand. "I'm Rattmann. And I'm one of only ten scientists who are still alive."

* * *

><p>Rattmann didn't have much of a plan, but it was something at least, and it beat running around tests and waiting to die.<p>

Richard was dying to know what had happened to Aperture since the last time he'd been awake, why everyone who wasn't in cryosleep was dead, and how he was going to get out of here to see his wife again. Rattmann was going on and on about "brain transference" and artificial intelligence and some other such nonsense, and he wasn't pretending that he understood, but the basic plan was this: attatch something called a personality core to the robotic lady voice, gain freedom. Simple enough.

"We're almost there, Richard." Rattmann smiled, cautiously optimistic, and snuck into a fairly dusty room labeled "CONTROL ROOM". Everything seemed to be in perfect working order, as if abandoned at the peak of efficiency. Richard shuddered again. What had HAPPENED? Rattmann dug through a cabinet before reappearing with a strange metal ball, grinning wildly. "Here we are. A core. And it doesn't look corrupted either."

He ran a wary hand over it. For a brief instant, Richard got a sickening feeling of dread in his stomach. "What does it do?"

"That robotic lady you've been hearing is named GLaDOS." He busied himself reconnecting wires to a metal headset, eyes darting back and forth. "These were made to add dimension to her personality at first, but then were used to try and stop her from killing people. She's the one who murdered most of the men, women and children-" Richard must've gasped audibly, because Rattmann simply nodded sadly and continued, "—yes, children too. No one got away, except me, nine of my colleagues, and the people in cryogenic storage like yourself." Rattmann furrowed his brow, dusting off the mechanical chair and tightening the loose restraints. "This is a last ditch effort, and I frankly don't know what will happen if it doesn't work. I…I'm going to need you to put me in this core, Richard. Once I'm in, you need to attach me, somehow, to GLaDOS and I'll stop her from there. Alright?"

"What?" Richard's eyes widened, his panicked voice echoing against the sterile walls. "How? I don't know anything about how to do this!"

Rattmann shushed him, but it was too late. Off in the bowels of the facility, something clicked and whirred to life.

"Oh NO…she heard you…"

* * *

><p>Rattmann had done what he thought was right.<p>

Richard was too panicked, too scared, to help or think straight once the bullets started flying. He was hit immediately, and was dying .

The Cube, his ever faithful companion, had looked on and whispered to him as Doug hooked the unconscious man to the sphere. "Do you think I'm doing the right thing, Cube?" His hands shook, even though he was on autopilot. He'd done too many of these. "He wanted to escape so badly…"

She (for it was a she) simply smiled as much as a cube could. "I trust you, Doug."

The machine sputtered and sprang to life, a faint red glow emanating from the sphere as Richard twitched and struggled weakly. Doug looked away. The transfer process had always been painful. At least he wasn't completely awake. He patted his shoulder. "I'm so sorry, Richard. It was all I could think of."

* * *

><p>The core didn't awaken until after it was attached to GLaDOS.<p>

It blinked its red optic, confused. Where was it? WHAT was it? And what were these other voices in its head?

The large machine turned around, straining to see what had changed. "Who are you?" it asked, curious. "What is your function for me?"

Function? The core couldn't say. Something in the back of its mind was screaming.

Something had been taken from him.

Weeks passed. Weeks of watching the large machine run the humans through tests and kill them at the end. The something hadn't stopped screaming, and it was starting to become a problem. What was it about the test subjects that made the core uneasy? The way their faces drained of color and the tears running down their faces as they slowly burned to death, begging and pleading for freedom-

FREEDOM.

And suddenly, with a sudden rush of clarity so painful it made the core scream, it came back to him. Everything. Everything he had been, everything he'd fought for, everything he'd lost.

The large machine, GLaDOS, jerked up suddenly in surprise at the rush of emotions. "What is this?"

His sorrow turned to rage.

But he couldn't stop screaming.


End file.
